Oxygen demand is an important parameter for determining the effect of organic pollutants on receiving water. As microorganisms in the environment consume these materials, oxygen is depleted from the water. This can have an adverse effect on fish and plant life.
There are three main methods of measuring oxygen demands: directly, by biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and/or chemical oxygen demand (COD), and indirectly by total organic carbon (TOC) procedures. BOD, because it uses microorganisms for oxidation, gives the closest picture of the biological processes occurring in a stream. However, results are not available for five days, and the BOD test is inadequate as an indicator of organic pollution when used with industrial waste water containing toxic materials which poison the microorganisms and render them unable to oxidize wastes.
Unlike BOD, the two other methods do not use biological processes, and are therefore faster and not affected by toxic materials. A strong oxidizing agent or combustion technique is used under controlled conditions in the TOC method to measure the total amount of organic material in a sample. The results obtained may not be as accurate as the results reached through the COD or BOD method in predicting environmental oxygen demand because oxygen demands may differ between compounds with the same number of organic carbons in their structures. The difference in oxygen demand between two compounds containing the same amount of organic carbon can be seen in the following equations showing the oxidation of oxalic acid and ethanol:
oxalic acid: C.sub.2 H.sub.2 O.sub.4 +1/2 O.sub.2 .fwdarw.2CO.sub.2 +H.sub.2 O
ethanol: C.sub.2 H.sub.5 OH+3O.sub.2 .fwdarw.2CO.sub.2 +3H.sub.2 O
Each molecule of ethanol uses up six times as much oxygen as an equivalent amount of oxalic acid, and thus would have a much greater effect on the dissolved oxygen present in a receiving water. Estimating environmental oxygen demand (as with BOD and COD) requires complete oxidation of carbon and hydrogen present in the organic matter. Thus, while TOC is a more direct expression of total organic content than BOD or COD, it does not provide the same kind of information. An empirical relationship can exist between TOC, BOD and COD, but the specific relationship must be established for a specific set of sample conditions.
Currently, the COD test has a fairly specific and universal meaning: the oxygen equivalent of the amount of organic matter oxidizable by potassium dichromate in a 50% sulfuric acid solution. Generally, a silver compound is added as a catalyst to promote the oxidation of certain classes of organics. Typically, a mercuric compound may be added to reduce interference from the oxidation of chloride ions by the dichromate which will give false high COD readings. The end products of organic oxidations are carbon dioxide and water.
After the oxidation step is completed, the amount of dichromate consumed is determined either titrimetrically or colorimetrically. Either the amount of dichromate reduced (Chromium III) or the amount of unreacted dichromate (Chromium VI) remaining can be measured. If the latter method and colorimetry are chosen, the analyst must know the precise amount of dichromate added and be able to set the instrument wavelength very accurately, since readings are routinely taken on the "shoulder" of the Chromium VI absorbance peak. Wavelength settings must be reproduced precisely in order to avoid errors when using a previously generated calibration curve.
Dichromate was first used in the COD test over 50 years ago. Before that time, potassium permanganate was the oxidant of choice. Analysts have tried many other reagents, such as potassium persulfate, cerium sulfate, potassium iodate and oxygen itself. Generally these other oxidants have not been satisfactory.
A prior case commonly assigned, U.S. Ser. No. 08/475,187, filed Jun. 7, 1995, and entitled "Manganese III Method For Chemical Oxygen Demand Analysis", relates to a new COD test that eliminates the use of dichromate in sulfuric acid and replaces it with another COD test reagent containing Mn.sup.+3 ions and of improved performance. The subject matter of that application is incorporated herein by reference.
As mentioned previously, the current state of the art involves the addition of mercuric compounds added to reduce interference from the oxidation of chloride ions by the dichromate. The addition of mercuric salts, while satisfactory to eliminate interference from chloride ion in aqueous COD samples, is itself unsatisfactory because mercury is a pollutant and known toxicant, which makes it undesirable for use in COD analysis. Mercury has its own polluting and environmental risks. There is, therefore, a present and continuing need for the development of a means of removing potentially interfering chloride ions from aqueous COD samples which avoids use of mercury salts, and which does not in any way interfere with the accuracy of the COD analytical procedure. This invention has as its primary objective the fulfillment of this need.
An additional objective is to provide a cartridge device which can be provided in a kit for chemical COD analysis that can be conveniently used by operators to conduct a pretreatment chloride removal step prior to analysis of an aqueous COD sample.